(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device, and more particularly, to a direct type backlight unit used in a liquid crystal display device and a liquid crystal display device having the same.
(2) Description of Related Art
As a liquid crystal panel used in liquid crystal display devices, a passive matrix type panel and an active matrix panel using thin film transistors (TFT) are known. However, such liquid crystal panels are not of an emissive type and therefore require an additional illumination light source to visualize images formed on the liquid crystal panels.
Therefore, a liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal display panel having a drain driver and a gate driver arranged at its circumference and a backlight unit (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as BLU) for irradiating the liquid crystal display panel.
The BLU is classified into a side-light type BLU and a direct type BLU. In recent years, liquid crystal display devices are becoming bulky and larger in screen size. In such bulky and large-screen liquid crystal display devices, a direct type BLU is suitable because it can provide high luminance output. A liquid crystal display device using the direct type BLU is disclosed in JP-A-2006-259750 and JP-A-11-084377, for example.